Trainer Ride West Coast Style!

I am getting really tired of the unsettled wind and rain we continue to have on the West Coast! I am so ready to be outside permanently on my bike. I was feeling (a little) sorry for myself this week. As this time last year, I was training and racing in Hawaii at the Lavaman Olympic Distance race and training camp! Where did the year go???...

Here I am again, riding in the dark, in front of my 17" computer screen. Shawn snapped this photo, while lying on his back. He keeps me focused on the positives in our life, and does well at redirecting my negative thoughts, even though he is the one that is suffering big time with the lay-offs in his company and lack of income at this time in our lives!...

Now if only we could afford to turn our garage into something like the photos below, I might have an easier time watching the CompuTrainer screen for hours at a time!...

Wow!... Wouldn't I love to have this little set up. Trish (one of my "Mom's of 3, Superstar Athletes) and Will, live down on the ocean (Doctors) and just finished renovating their "boat house" into a classy new "West Coast Gym"! The views through the windows.... aahhhhh! The 42' flat screen TV with surround sound and calming blue walls would make riding a CompuTrainer so much more enjoyable.... Well, actually, what made the ride even more spectacular was being able to do it with Trish and Sandy! That was the icing on the cake! We are pretty sure, we are going to make this a weekly routine now! I haven't had time to watch a movie from start to finish in years!

It was 7:30 in the evening, so we were just getting the tail end of a beautiful sunset on the Strait of Georgia. I felt really, really, sorry for the girls. I sweat like a crazy woman and they only had a few little beads of sweat on their foreheads! Thanks so much for having me over Trish!!! I loved it!!! A great way to end a week of training!

Spring Break, Best Friends, Pace Bunnies, and Hockey, Hockey, and more Hockey!!!

Wow!!!! We just had the most amazing Spring Break! I don't think we could jam one more activity in! Thank goodness for being 'casual on- call' and scheduling myself off for the last 10 days! There was no room for work! Our Spring Break started with our Best Friends, from our old home town Kamloops, coming up to visit us for a few days. Sarah, Josh, and Gabe pulled an early 6 am start from Kamloops to start the holidays off with a menu created by the kids. First night "Tacos" (of course), 2nd night "Home Made Pizza's" and the third night "Lasagna and Bread with Melted Brie, Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Garlic" and the grand finale "Audrey's Famous Thai Food" for the last night!!! Thursday morning we were up at the crack of dawn to start the FOUR days worth of hockey tournaments. Braydan started the puck rolling with a goal and two assists. Nathan's first game, he had a goal, and a few break-aways. Both Braydan and Nathan's team's won all three of their round robin games. Braydan had a "Hat Trick" for each of the last two games, and Nathan scored once more, with a few more assists.

I took Sarah to Seal Bay Park for some epic runs while she was here. It was still snowing in Kamloops, so she enjoyed the west coast trails immensely! I miss her! Yes, I know, not a great pic of me. I am extremely pale, and looking rather old around the eyes! But, what can I say, I am 40!

Note in the title of the blog, "Pace Bunny", ya right! Not sure yet why I do this to myself... So, for all of you out there pounding the pavement day after day, like me, trying your little heart out to improve your running. You might just want to skip to the photos and video at the bottom! My Shawn! Gotta love him! Ya, so this morning went something like this... 9:23am Me: Hey Shawn, (laughing) maybe you should come with me this morning and run the 'Comox Half Marathon' and be my pace bunny??..." "Coach has a plan for how he wants me to run the race today, maybe you could come and help me get a new PR???" Shawn: (Looking at me kind of sideways)"Ya?... So don't you have to train for those kinds of distances?... Like, when was my last 1/2, two years ago"??... Me: "Oh come on, it'll be fun!"... "We have to leave in 15 minutes!"...

So we get to the race with like 20 minutes till gun time. Shawn says to me, "Ya know, I sure would have liked a couple days notice, ya know, like... I might have trained a little for this"... Whaaa!!!

11 am gun goes off, Shawn is ahead of me, I am staying in his draft, slowly he starts to get a little further ahead... He keeps turning around, smiling like a little kid in an amusement park, "Come on Aud, stay with me", kilometer 2... he says, "see piece of cake", kilometer 3... nowhere to be seen!!!!

I'm on my own, no pace bunny, nowhere! Darn it! He does it again! Every time I ask him to do this for me, he just goes!!! Oh well, I slug along, keeping my heart rate in it's zone like coach said! At least I am following my plan. I am just about at the 10.5 km turn around... SHAWN!!! He is so happy to see me, grinning from ear to ear! Tells me I rock, and I suck it up and pick the pace up a little! Kilometers 11 to 16 went well, then we hit some hills and I lost my momentum and my little voice was getting smaller. I couldn't let him beat me by 12 minutes like last time! I was able to gather some strength, counting my foot strikes, I passed a couple of people that had passed me earlier. I was also passed by some that I passed earlier....

Finish line! Finally! My Mom, oldest boy Jordan and yes SHAWN!!! Looking like he had been to the car to change! He tells me, "No PR for me this year Aud, just 1:43 and change!"... So, he beat me by 9 minutes!!! I chalk it up to him taking bigger strides than me! I also have to justify my time with "Well, I did this at the end of a training week, you've done nothing". I have to try and take it where I can!

My SUPER awesome athlete, Sandy with her family! Sandy, was so looking forward to nailing this run today and came down with a huge sinus infection last week! She did the race anyways, feeling terrible, but with a new PR for her 1:57! Yay!!!!!!! I am so proud of her, way to go!

Check out the groovy mom's!

My youngest, Braydan, after his play off game. A little teary as he fought so hard to try and tie the game up 3-3 at the end, but his last shot on goal deflected off the post and the buzzer went. My heart was just breaking for him. I had to tell him my story of Dad, just coming out for his first run in years, and beating me by 9 minutes. He thought that was the greatest. Talk about crying!

Nathan's Gold Medal Round game start! He is number '96'

Unfortunately they lost 5-3, but Silver is really good too! Way to go Warriors! There were a few tears shed by Nathan also! Man, these boys, not sure where they get all their competitiveness from....

Josh and Jordan on the dirt bikes in our 'bike' yard! Gotta love living out in the forest. We have quickly outgrown our acre, and the boys are carving out our yard like a motor cross arena!... Now Back to reality, school in the morning for the boys and I work this week!!

Oh how I love my "Champion"!...

When I graduated from Nursing College in 1991!... Yes, for me that seems like just yesterday. One of my first "big" purchases I made with my paycheck was my most amazing Champion Juicer. Actually, I didn't buy it outright at first. I put it on lay-away and made payments on it at the local Nature's Fare. It was $300! That was one month's rent at the time. Huge deal! My mom thought I was living the life of "Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget". I explained to her that this was investing in my future and my health and I REALLY!!! needed it! Ha! See mom, after 18 years I am still juicing and lovin it! I think it is probably the best $300 I have ever spent!

I Just wanted to share one of my favorite juicing recipes. It does not have anything unusual or exotic, but it is super tasty and full of soooo many vitamins and minerals! Just what a 'Triathlete-Mom-Nurse' needs to keep up the health while everyone around her is coughing and sniffling away! So far I have been able to ward off the cold and flu bugs! I don't think I could live without my juicer!

2 Grapefruit

2 Oranges

Bunch of Strawberries

One big Carrot

(sometimes I add some ginger and a whole lemon)

So amazing!!!!!

Cheers!

"Ve Vaunt To Pomp You Awp!"

"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." -Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub-4 minute mile

Below are pictures of ELM's "Victoria Times Colonist 10km run clinic". One of my most favorite ways to spend my time is with a group of super motivated women, running their little hearts out! We had a variety of six hill repeats to conquer and we did them all with big shinning faces throughout the entire evening!

Look at the BIG smile on Kathy's face as we reach the top of the 1st hill repeat of the evening!!!

Love the big smiles on the up-hill too!!!

The last long slow gradual hill repeat along the pipeline! Yay, we did it!

We missed our fearless leader, Sarah Seads, this week! Don't worry Sarah, your leaders were full of high energy as usual! With 'Daylight Savings Time' starting last weekend, our run was totally in the daylight and we enjoyed much warmer temperatures than we have had all year! It was fantastic! Looking forward to seeing everyone next week, enjoy the weekend!

Sunny Sunday Sea Lion Sighting!

I might be in trouble for this one... I haven't heard back from Coach yet. Probably because I just posted my training for Sunday in Training Peaks just this morning. Yes, I know, it's Thursday! If I take the time to sit at the computer, I get sucked into the black hole of endless blog reading, Facebook, emails, searching the web for the latest and greatest gear and gadgets or whatever I can, to sneak in a few more minutes of just 'sitting still'.

Part of my New Year's resolution this year was to use my time each day more wisely and to NOT sit in front of the computer, looking at other athlete's training blogs, and drool over their ability to knock off crazy training hours and still have time to document it all for everyone to read. Now, I have a set time aside that I allow myself, and if I spend more than a total of 15 mins on the net, my timer goes off and I log off! Sorry to everyone on Facebook that I haven't replied to!!! Really, I am sorry! I am in a 'recovery week', and I plan to reply to everyone that has sent me a message this weekend!

Another part of my New Year's resolution was to actually try and take my camera with me everywhere I go! I have been only slightly successful at doing this. But, it is only March, and I definitely have made a bigger effort than ever this year so far!

I was told on Sunday that if I rode out on the Ocean Highway, I would see the mass of Sea Lions basking in the sun and bellowing out for everyone to hear. My mom had told me, "Oh yeah, they are just down the road from town". I had a 2.5 hour ride to complete and thought I could ride out to see them and ride back, easy scenic 2.5 hour ride in the bank! Yay! The weather was sunny, but holy cow it is still freezing here! I think the temp was like +2 C! Riding a bike going just under 30km/hr makes the windchill feel like -7 C. This is where I might get in trouble with Coach. In the end I had to ride just a little further than "just out of town". I ended up riding 30 mins farther than I thought to find these gentle giants! There was absolutely no chance of missing them! As I approached an area along the highway I could hear them for about 5 mins before actually seeing them! So spectacular! I tried to capture a bit of their conversation for you to hear.

Where do I start???

Happy March!!!

OMG!! Where did February go?... I have already been in my new age category of 40-44 year old women for exactly one month today!! I have not raced since Hately Castle, but I have been busy juggling the usual; kids (some of which have been super sick), work (way too much, really), training (loving that), coaching (super loving it), learning (always!), and... Oh yeah, and I had to add in there a little flood in the ceiling!!!...

Jack, the plumber made swiss cheese out of my kitchen ceiling, while I lay on the floor crying! Well maybe, I was a bit too hysterical! But, he gave me absolutely no time to adjust to the idea that he was going to take the big knife in his hand and start making holes, just like that... No problem for him, but for me, I still had no idea yet if my insurance was going to cover the whole thing or not. I knew he needed to find the problem, but he was just so fast with the big old hack saw he was wheeling in his hands! Thank goodness the Insurance Adjuster, "Jay", my new BFF, found my flood to be "Sudden and Accidental"! Cause, he told me, with a big smile on his face, that if it had been "Long Term Seepage" than I would be "Sweet out of Luck" with the insurance coverage! Thank you Jay!!!

My morning today was spent with one of my "Ironman Mama's", Sandy, who I am coaching. Getting up at 5:30 in the morning to help out a very enthusiastic 40 year old mother of two, who is just soaking in everything and anything triathlon is just so inspiring to me! Trish and Sandy are working into their already fun filled lives of full time work, kids, unexpected flu bugs, training, laughing, learning and they are just super troopers! Sandy will kill me when she sees her swim video below, but I just want her to know how proud I am of her! Trish had sick kids at home today and missed her Video moment... Don't worry Trish, yours is coming!! :)

Now, onto some motivation to keep your day going. I just recently viewed this last link on Sarah Sead's blog, which some of you may have already seen! I just had to post it on mine! Thank you Sarah for posting the link. Talk about powerful. I think I have just found my new 'mantra' for 2009!... Need I say more!...

"Are You Going To Finish Strong?"

http://www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html